Improvement in refrigerators



H. M. 'DIGGI-Ns. *Refrigerator No. 221,218. Patented Nov.4,1s79.

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N, PETERS. PHoTOL1THpGRAPMER. WASHINGTON. D C4 nrrnn STATESPATENT@Freien HENRY DIGGINS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFRIGERATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 221,218,1dated November4, 1879; application filed May 21, 187s.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY M. DIGGINS, of Washington, District ofColumbia, have invented a certain new and Improved Refrigerator; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description ofthe same, reference bein g had' to the accompanying drawing, formingpart of this specification, in which the figure represents alongitudinal vertical section.

Like letters'of reference indicate the same parts in the figure.

This invention relates to that class of refrigerators having an ice-boxarranged in or near the top, and a preserving chamber or chambersbeneath said box, entered through a lateral or front door, and in whicha constant circulation of air is kept up to equalize the temperaturethroughout the entire structure.

In refrigerators of this class there is a tendency for the warm outsideair to rush into and through the preserving-chamber whenever the doorleading` to the latter is opened; and to provide against the bad effectsof this tendency, a fine or passage has been arranged immediately abovethe door, forJ the purpose of conducting the said inowing warm air tothe ice-box before it passes to the preservingchamber. In all priorinventions, however, within my knowledge, the said intlowin g warm airhas been conducted merelyin contact with the exterior surface of the topand sides of a slate box containing the ice, and beneath a slottedbottom, on which the ice rests; but in .such construction, there beingno actual direct contact with the ice itself, said air has beeninsuciently cooled before it enters the preserving-chamber.

The object of my invention, therefore, 1s to more rapidly andeffectually cool the air by circulating it directly over and in contactwith the ice 5 and to this end it consists in an improved constructionof the ice-box and the air passages or ilues connected therewith,whereby the warm air, on entering through the open door, is conducted upto the top of the chamber, and thence over and in direct contact withthe ice therein, and, finally, in its cooled condition, down into thepreserving-chamber below, all as I will now proceed to describe.

In the drawing, A indicates the top, bottom, side walls, and end wallsofthe refrigerator, any or all of which may be made, in whole orv in part,of plates a a of glass, with dead-air spaces a contained between them,for the purpose of preventing conduction ol' heat. B represents thelateral or front door, by which access is had l@to the preservingchamberC, the ice-box E being filled from an opening, D, provided with a coverin the top. The front wall, d, ofthe ice-bex may be vertical orinclineddownward and backward in straight or curved lines from its frontupper edge at e to its rear lower edge. A space is thus left at callalong the front side of the refrigerator directly above the door B, andinto which the warm air, entering atB, will incline to rise. From thetop of this space c an opening, e, conducts said warm rising currentsinto the ice-box, where they pass over and through the ice, and thenceout over a low bridge-wall, c', and down through an opening, e2, intothe rear part of the chamber C, meaning bythe rear part the partfarthest removed from the door B.

The `cold-air currents thus falling into the rear part of the chambertend to crowd the whole atmospheric contents vthereof forward toward thedoor B, so that when said door is opened the entering currents are metby the currents-moving forward and are deflected npward toward the spacec. At the same time the opening of the door B, giving a freer downwardmovement to the heavy cold air at the back of the chamber C, creates anincreased suctionfrom the space c through the opening e and ice-boX, tosupply the place of the more rapidly-moving descending currents in therear of the chamber, and this increased upward movement of the currentsin the space c intercepts the warm-air currents entering near the top ofthe door B and conducts them directly into the space c, and thence tothe icebox, leaving the food in the chamber C surrounded all the whileby the cold currents descending and moving forward from the rear of thechamber. l i

A small flange, m, projects downward from the bottom ofthe ice-box infront ofthe opening e2, to dctlect back any Warm air that might pass thelower end of the space c an gl be caught under the bottom of theiee-box.Thetop ofthe ice-box is closed except at the opening` e, which extendsits entire length, and the bottom is closed except at the opening e?,which also extends its Whole length.

The bottom ot' the ice-box, the front wall ot the same, the bridge-Wallat the rear, and the depending flange are all thoroughly packed with nonconducting material, and consequently the exterior surfaces of theseparts are not a'ected by the coldness of the ice, but remain at the sametemperature as the air in Contact with them, thus preventing theaccumulation ot' moisture thereon or sweating, and not interfering` inthe slightest with the flow ofthe air-currents.

It will be observed that the cold air liows down behind the bridge-wallinto the preservingehainber and passes forward toward the front door,and thence up through the space or tine C, beine; by that timeconsiderably warmed by Contact with the contents of the preservf'ingchambeiu From the titles C the air is delivered directly onto theice, which immediatei y absorbs all the moisture it contained and coolsit before again passing` into the chamber below. A constant and rapidcirculation is Afront wall or diaphragm, d, arranged as de scribed,leaving' a space, o c, as the only ascending;l air-passage immediatelyinside ot' and above the door, and provided with a low bridgewall, e',and a depending` flange, m, on its rear upper and lower edges, behindwhich is arn ranged a diving iiue or passage, a2, whereby the warm air,entering when the door is opened, passes np through the space c e overand in contact with the ice, and thence passes, in its cooled condition,through the tine c into the )rescrvinMehainber below substantiall 'asdey scribed, for the purpose specitied.

HENRY M. DIGGINS. Witnesses:

A. P. LEeUYne, M. L. RoBisoN.

